Fruit picker



July 21, 1925.

1,546,530 R. AKAHOSHI FRUIT PICKER Filed Sept 15, 1921 WITNESS INVEN TOR 4. f 43/721 /7/f4//6U/f/ BY 101% Mm v ATTORNEYS Patented July .21 1925.

jumrtnfim I Romano AKAHosHI, on WALNUT (anovn, oanlron via;

rnnrr Application filed September TOICLZZ whom it may concern. U

Beit known that I, Romano Anarrosm, a citizen of Japan, and a resident oil/Valnut Grove, county of Sacramento, of California, have invented a new and useful Fruit Picker, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for picking fruit. ()ne o'f the ob ects of the inobject of the device is the provision of a.

fruit picking [apparatus having improved jaw operating means My invention possesses other ob ects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will-be set forth in the following description of my invention. It is to be understood that I donot limit myself to the showing made by thesaid description, as Imay adopt; variant forms of my invention within the scope of the claims;

Referringto the drawings, Fig; 1- is anelevation of the fru p Fig? 215 an elevation talren' in a. plane atright angles to that of Fig." 1. Fig. 3 isan-elevation of a portion of the device drawn on a larger scale.

In general terms the device of my inven tion comprises a pole upon which jaws for seizing the fruit are mounted at one end. The jaws are cont-rolled by a line extending down the pole and secured thereto at the lower end. A grip is slidably arranged on the pole and provided with means for fixing it in position on the pole when grasped by the hand of the operator. Means are pro vided on the grip for operating the line to close the jaws upon the fruit. Means are interposed in the line for evaluating the spread of the jaws so that the size of the fruit may be determined before it is de tached. This is of importance since commercial canning companies specify for some fruits, such as pears, definite sizes, and the fruit is picked only when within the limits of the stated sizes. Arranged below the jaws to receive the severed fruit is a conduit and State rroxnn.

ia'ie'er. .SerieI no; 500,434.

tormedpt fabric and means are provided tor retaining a certain portion of the condint; 1n a permanent twist to'retard passage ot'the fruit so that bruising is avoided.

More. particnlarlymy device comprises a pole? ofsuitable length on one end of which are pivotally mounted the cross levers 3, bent as shown inthedrawingsto provide arms a; which are provided at the ends with eyes fruit and to prevent injury of the fruit are covered with a rubber casing 6 which pr0- videsa yielding pad bet ween which the fruit is securely held when the jaws are closed. The ends'o'l' the levers are connected by links Y with a plate 8 slidably mounted on thepo le, and a spring 9 interposed between theplate" 8 and'the pole tends to draw the plate upwardly and" retain thejaws in the open positioni- The spring returns the aws to the open position afterthey have been closed.- A line '11 is connected to the plate 8 at one endfand at the other end to the; lower end of the pole, passing thru the grip 12 which-is slidably arranged on the pole.

On the side-of the grip is aspring 13, its iree end providedwith a pointwhich locks in the pole when the spring is depressed by graspingthe grip in the hand. Pivoted on the grip isa lever 14;, provided with a thumb piece 16 with which thelever may be thrown outwardlyinto the position indicated by the i dotted lines in 3. The-lever'is hollow andwhen the parts are assembled the line 11' is passed thruthe lever and under the idler pulley 17 also fixed on the grip. When the lever 'is thrown outwardly by pressure of the thumb, the grip being held stationary on the pole by engagement of the spring latch 13, the line is of course pulled down, as indicated in Fig. 3, and thru its mediate connections with the jaws the latter are closed upon the fruit. Upon release of the thumb piece 16 the spring 9 eitects a recovery movement of the line and opens the jaws to release the fruit.

Means are provided for evaluating the spread of the jaws. In accordance with, the present practice the fruit picker is provided with a ring to gauge the size of the fruit before detaching it. In my invention I provide means with which the size of the fruit may be accurately determined when the jaws have closed upon the fruit. Interposed in the line 11 is a graduated plate 18 divided to indicate quarters of inches up to four The eyes are for seizing the "res time: orrlcs.

may be read directly onthe graduated plate,

so that ifthefruit is less than the required si'iZ e fitter being "grasped by the jaws, it may be released without picking it from thei tree "Means are p royided.fonconducting the fruit after separation from the treedown tlie length of the pole to abag'usually carried by operatoil Attached to the jaw arms tis aVnet QQaISOsecured at one side to an'diconnectedi nto thefa bric conduit 22 ex down the pole and fastened at intervals theret by means ofloops 22 In order to retard the moyementlof the fruit falling th-ru'the conduit, the conduit is twisted near the bottoni of the pole so that fruit striking he' wist ort oa s g d a y a e witliout br ilising. In order to permanently maintain the twisted portion a humanduit 1 0 W n t 1 51v uc i t f hg The fruit passing worn by the operator. thetwisted portion comes to rest in a loop o f'flch conduit-"between the twisted portion nd he has and r t me t t me, the perator liftsthisf loop to permit the fruitto a l ntothe bag,

z2eritipiith n d, f t oper: atohon. hep ehnd the h r on he gr p. 2 he grip .i moved. to ny. con eni i dcafiQI s the j ws. are p a ed dj cent. the fruitto be picked; Tighteningthej grasp; onthe grip sets the latch;13 in the poleand; xes he gr pv st tiona y...) Movementoft e; thumb the'nnnoves the lever 14 outwardly and draws down' the line to actuate the jaws. j

can: pick more than twice as much. fruit with y deyieeas I could' inder jtheold methods of hand picking.

I claim: 1. A fruit picking devifle comprising a pair of j'a wsh means "for closing the jaws upon the fruit, a fabric condu t for conduct;

ingithe fruit from thejaws, -and, means for inaintaininglfa twisted, portion of said, conduit toretard passage of said'frui't.

2. A. fruit picking device comprising a pole, jawsarrange d loin the pole fors'ei'zing the fruit means for operating the jaws, and

means operated'by said jaw operating means for etgaluatingthespread of thejaws.

3. fruit picking device comprising a pole jaws forseiaing the fruit arranged .on' the pole a line fouope rating the jawsa' grip ndrmally slidable on saidjpo le, means on the grip operated, by it the grasp of hs p iaw e eld e t g i t nar on the pole, an me a ns on said grip forl'op; ra ing sa .l nex 4.. it fruitpieking device comprising a 1 1. jaws. arm g d. n P9 6 w Q se ng the fruit a lline for o'perating'jlthe jaw s; a p ably r an ed. on e ro 1 means hhai grin rs pq h hg. S'aid, liiie. h graduated means interposed in said line for ahmt ngt sp shdf e j Inltestin'iony whereoflI havelhereunto set my and:

, RLUITARO .AKAHQ I- 

